Introduction to the project
This is a general RPG project for me, friends and one day, hopefully, the general public. There are already quite a few settings available for everyone for games like Pathfinder and Dungeons and Dragons, but since most other game systems are more or less proprietary or dislike "forcing things down people throat", some game masters sometimes are missing important resources when trying to run games. Another situation that arises is that a setting and a game are closely linked, and it's almost impossible to adapt the setting to a different style of play. One such setting that caused me issues personally was Alderac's pretty good Legends of the Five Rings. While the basic Role and Keep system was excellent and some of the core elements of the setting were good, there were far too many "little things" which annoyed me to no end and made the experience with this game far less enjoyable than I wanted, the biggest being the apparent lack of actual Asian themes, historical accuracy and background other than the broad strokes used to make the setting different from "the other RPG". The Empire and Beyond With the Imperial Project, we are building an ancient Empire that has incorporated many smaller states over the years, through war, cultural influence and diplomacy. This Empire has a definite "asian feel" to it, but shouldn't be confused for actual China, Japan or Korea, as it lives as it's own thing and grew organically from its contact with other cultures. 'The Empire at its core' The Empire is a two thousand year old construct, founded by strange invaders from the deep south, from what people now call the Faceless Jungle. As the First Mikado conquered the southern stone-building nation of Nittan and moved in to subjugate the Tarizoku and Ganizoku plain people, the concept of a massive empire dawned in the mind of the people serving this mysterious invading army. The only real threat to the Mikado's ambition was the powerful northern nation known as Yunjin, which defied the Empire for close to 200 years before being absorbed by the Empire. The newborn nation is built on Five Pillars: the Sons and Daughters of Heaven, descendant from the armies of the Mikado, the Imperial Bureaucracy, which manages the day to day affairs of the nation and prevents local warlords from taking power that is not theirs, the Warrior Caste, usually called samurai from the traditional name of the Tarigani people for servant soldiers, the Traders, who make sure everyone is paid their due and moves goods throughout the nation and finally, the backbone of the empire, the Peasants, who make sure everyone is fed, armed, mounted on horses, ect... While gradation between the groups is definite, with the Sons of Heaven ruling over everyone else, each of the pillar is essential for the working of the Empire and each group has roles that it needs to accomplish if everyone wants to survive in a harsh world. One of the recent problems in the Empire is actually the shifting roles of the pillars, with a drastic growth in the power of the Traders, both in wealth and military power (due to their close relationship with the semi-criminal Chivalrous Organizations) which threatens the power of the military elite samurais. This growth in power of the Traders comes as the peasants become richer and more powerful due to advances in production technology and a slow switch from an almost purely agricultural, rural economy to an early industrial economy based around major cities. This, combined with the political, cultural and religious difference between major regions of the Empire, has been causing some unrest in the land, pushing people to reaffirm their desire to support the Mikado, or, on the other hand, promote a divergence in the Imperial doctrine. While all the Emperors have been from the Sons and Daughters of Heaven, and basically can trace back their ancestry to the First Mikado, another concept in the Empire is the Mandate of Heaven, the divine right to rule for the Mikado over his subjects, granted to him by his strength, courage, knowledge, honor and benevolence. Many Emperors have been found wanting in some of these areas and in some cases, even deposed as they were seen as not being able to keep the Mandate. The most powerful Sons of the Heaven families are always on the lookout for this, hoping to be able to jump on the situation to claim the throne and the benefits from it, even though the Imperial Bureaucracy exists in part to protect the Mandate. 'Technology in the Empire' Rather than go with a simple "It's like Sengoku-jidai Japan or Three Kingdom Era China", Imperial technology works as a strange mix of things to make it just different enough to be interesting, modern enough for people to feel a sense of understanding of it but also, as realistic as possible so that people like me can understand what is going on. Modern technology lives side by side with medieval or even ancient technologies and concepts, meshed together to make it strange, yet familiar. In a way, you could see this as what if China / Japan had been at the forefront of the Industrial Revolution rather than major European powers. One of the driving factor in the technology in the Empire is the fact that the Sons of Heaven have brought with them many scientific advancements in their coming, most of them being safeguarded by the Onmyou, the secretive religious organization which is backed by the Empire itself. Technological advances, along with cultural advances and other things, are quite possible in the Empire, but everything is under the scrupulous eye of the Onmyou, making sure nothing comes to break the natural order of things or endanger the lives of the people of the Empire. This leads the Empire to have some very modern technology (like vaccination, modern crop rotation and fertilizers and even some modern communication devices) that work in conjunction with more renaissance era technology. A lot of the technological control is done to limit the damage of war between local lords and nationals, but nothing can stop the wheels of progress in that regard, with the introduction of primitive firearms, modern steel and canons in the early 21st Imperial Century. War is changing and making things more and more difficult for the ancient warrior caste, who must adapt or die. 'Culture of the Empire' The culture of the Empire is varied, yet oddly similar. Regional differences are extremely important especially as the Empire is composed of three major ethnicities, but even those differences are evened out by the fact the top ruling class is from outside those ethnicities and adapted local culture to their own. Another important factor is the fact that the global caste system in the Empire stratifies culture even more, showing a drastic difference between peasants, lower military nobility and high nobility. Culture includes a lot of things, like what people eat, wear, which sport and entertainment they enjoy. Life for the peasants in the empire is easy enough. If you live in a rural area, you get up at dawn, work the field, take care of animals or work in a mine for most of the day, go home and rest for the evening. Live in a urban center is quite different: you get up at dawn, go to a local manufacture and work for most of the day, go home and rest for the evening. There are religious and civic holidays that are respected, but even there, for people in rural areas, those holidays usually mean "less work" rather than no work. Most people are fairly well-fed, except in years with extremely abnormal weather or in backwater location, and the standard of living, while not extremely high, is well maintained due to intervention by the Onmyou. One of the only real thing peasants have to worry about is high taxes levied to finance expeditions of their lords. Most of the other castes try to copy the look and feel of the ruling class in their own way, with varying degrees of success. Military prowess is glorified to the highest degree, but so is the ability to be a patron of the arts and "cultured". There are few standards throughout the Empire, but copying the current trends of the Imperial Capital is a good way to start. Some trends are more common then other: while in public, most nobles are expected to be carrying a pair of swords with them (which swords that would be depends solely on where the noble is from), and the common attire is the kimono, modified with some local particularities. Those who are not allowed to officially carry weapons, like merchants and bureaucrats, still carry weapons in public, from the typical Seal of Office of the bureaucrat to anything they can get their hands on for a merchant. Merchants often wear very expensive clothes as a mean to compensate for their lack of status. Servitude is the basis of the Imperial social structure. Peasants serve their local lord, paying their taxes to him, who then repay his taxes to his regional governor, that then trickles it down to his provincial governor, that finally sends it all the way up to the Bureaucracy in the Capital. This also reflects itself on the work of the lower nobility: a samurai receives his stipend from his lord, requiring him to serve in return, and his lord receives his stipend from his lord, again, all the way up to the Imperial Bureaucracy. Most samurai are not "actual" nobles, ruling over anything, but simply granted some land and their stipend so they can fight in their master army when the time come. ''Cultural groups within the Empire'' *Tarigani (A mix of the old Tarizoku and Ganizoku tribes) *Islanders (Originally from Tarizoku origin) *Yunjin *Nittan *Yamabunjin (Former citizens of the conquered Ullikan kingdom) *Aiju (Northern nomads that live in some of the most desolate region of the Empire) *Ochimiai (From the recently annexed archipelago) *Eled (mainly people that illegally immigrated or were absorbed in the Empire) *Various small tribal groups scattered throughout the Empire ''Cultural trends in the Empire'' *Sports and games *Marriage *Food and drinks *Arts *Education 'Imperial religions' There are many religions in the Empire, mostly due to the fact we are talking about an Empire which spreads an entire seaboard and goes deep in land. One of the important fact is, however, that religions have to be officially recognized by the Imperial Bureaucracy in order to be practiced by the locals. Practicing an illegal religion is a surefire way of attracting the attention of the Secret Police and ending your life in a dungeon somewhere, if not simply being executed for heresy. The fact that spirits and supernatural creatures actually exist in the Empire makes religions quite real for a lot of people. Even the most sceptical citizen can sometimes meet a Tengu coming from the mountains or even a travelling "friendly" Oni, but the fact that one of the main religion of the Empire is purely atheistic makes it a bit weird at time. It is not unheard of, however, that some spirits decide to create cults around themselves and corrupting the region they live in, which is one of the main reason why illegal religions are so frowned upon. Foreign religions are also very poorly regarded, as many of them shake the very core of the Empire due to a different theological backgrounds. ''Key religions of the Empire'' Way of the Stars Path of the Spirits Ancestral Worship Ancestral Worship (Ziaoism) The Disciples of the Ice Crone Kindai 'Neighbors and Trade partners' Who can contribute Discussion pages will be open for every major topic so players and designers can discuss changes to any one part of the setting, but no changes should be done directly in the main pages without approval from me or from other managers (name of which pending). Even if you have a great idea, there might be issues with the general setting or with some underlying themes which we are trying to use, so we should always discuss them together as a group before making permanent changes. Related Links Legends of the Five Rings Alderac Entertainment Group